Dutch cabinet backs
partial Islamic burqa ban (The
West Australian) May 22 - The Hague (AFP) - The Dutch cabinet on Friday approved a partial ban
on wearing the face-covering Islamic veil, including in schools, hospitals and
on public transport.

Stalemate emerges as IS
wins precious ground(Sydney Morning Herald) May 19 – (Opinion: Peter Hartcher) On Saturday, US time, the Obama
administration announced with some fanfare that it had killed a senior
operative in the group that calls itself Islamic State.

Fall of Ramadi: why it
matters. (Sydney Morning
Herald) May 19 – (Opinion: Ruth Pollard) The city of Ramadi – the capital of the
Sunni-majority Anbar province that lies just 112 kilometres west of Baghdad –
is the first major city to fall to Islamic State militants since last June,
when they stormed across the border from Syria and took first Mosul and then
Tikrit.

Iraq fires back to take
land from IS near Ramadi (The
Courier-Mail, Brisbane) May 24 - IRAQI forces retook territory from the Islamic State group east of
Ramadi Saturday, commanders said, in their first counter-attack since the
jihadists’ capture of the Anbar provincial capital last week.

Jihadists firm up
control of Iraq-Syria border (The
West Australian) May 24 - Baghdad (AFP) - The Islamic State group took full control of a border
crossing between Iraq and Syria Sunday, tightening its grip on the heart of its
self-proclaimed caliphate.

Myanmar population law
raises fears for Rohingya minority (The
West Australian) May 24 - Yangon (AFP) - Myanmar has enacted a population law that rights groups
said Sunday targets persecuted Rohingya Muslims, a minority group at the centre
of a migration crisis that has seen thousands flee the country.

ISLAM

Fighting Muslim
radicalisation (The Saturday
Paper, Australia) May 16 – (Opinion: Lauren Williams) In what is usually a dance studio within
the old stone walls of the University of Sydney, 400 Australian Muslim men are
crammed onto Arabic carpets, kneeled in prayer.

Dalai Lama coming to
town, welcome unknown (Brisbane
Times) May 19 - The Dalai Lama will visit Queensland for the third time in 33 years,
but it remains unclear as to whether Premier Annastacia Palaszczukor a member of her government will meet with
him.